Hi Guys

I hear whispers about viewing tube shortening and most of the FS guys have already done it but has anyone actually shortened their EA-50 tube yet??

As a shoulder mount the camera with pad extended is still not quite a good fit with the current loupe! I find that it never quite sits on my shoulder and it's normally the little end "bump" of the pad that sits in the middle of my shoulder rather than the concave part of the pad.

There seems to be two courses of action here...one is shorten the view tube so the camera has to be further back which will also make balance a tiny bit better and at least the pad concave bit would sit on your shoulder. The other option would be to have a bar (with counterweight if you like) that drops behind your shoulder which would physically stop the camera moving forward off your shoulder but then you might not be able to get your eye up to the rubber cup?

If you take the middle section out of the tube would that push the pad too far back (maybe not a bad thing) as you can always slide the pad inwards a bit.

Anyone been brave enough to remove the middle section of the tube yet???

Chris

OK I have modded the first viewing tube on one of the EA-50's and it's AMAZING!!!! If you have an EA-50 and use it on your shoulder then do the mod and drop the middle section of the tube ... You will thank yourself!

With the shortened tube the camera sits further back on your shoulder so balance is better but more importantly the shoulder pad sits right in the middle of your shoulder where it's supposed to sit.

If you don't believe me then hoist the cam onto your shoulder where you usually use it, so your eye on the rubber cup and walk over to your bathroom mirror and look at yourself and see where the pad is sitting..it's way to far forward!!!

This is Eric's original mod video but I don't like the Velcro to hold the tube to the frame ..I might just bite the bullet and glue it with Quik Set Epoxy so it's permanent!! At the moment I have gaffer tape on it. I did find a post where some guy bent over some fins in the tube and didn't need the Velcro ..so looking for it still.

How to shorten the Sony FS 100 Viewfinder? on Vimeo

Chris

Hey Chris,
Could you post a link for the reading lens? Where did you get it?
I find that with my eyesight the focus on the viewfinder just ALMOST gets in focus. I might try the hack just for that. I end up never using the viewer at all.

Hi Steve

You don't have to buy a plastic lens and cut it all !! Just grab a 52mm close up lens (mine is a 1.5 dioptre one) and it screws right onto the top of the tube. The EA-50 manual actually tells you the thread is available. Not cutting is needed just pull the rubber cup off the end screw on the 52mm CU lens and pop the rubber cup back on and you are done! Yeah with my eyes I just made it without the lens but had no adjustment at all so both cameras have the closeup lens now as I'm a bit farsighted.

I never used Velcro on the mod either.. just removed the middle piece of the tube and then joined with a thin film of Quikset epoxy and it's solid and neat ...I also wrapped one piece od electrical tape around the join for safety but it's not needed ..if you don't want to use glue just electrical tape will work well but get's tacky after a while.

Used both cams at a wedding yesterday and the camera is way better balanced and way more stable too as the pad sits correctly on your shoulder!!

Should have done this last year when I bought the cameras instead of suffering!!

Chris

Hi Chris

Does the CU lens attach with an internal thread? Most of the ones I see have external thread as for fitting to DSLR lens fronts.

Am I looking in the wrong places?

Hi Martyn

Unless you are old and farsighted like me, I doubt whether you even need a closeup lens. I use 1.5 dioptre reading glasses on the computer so on the camera, even with the shortened tube I can still get a sharp image without any extra CU lens BUT my adjustment is almost on maximum so if I did need to magnify more I would be stuck!! With a +2 52mm closeup lens it brings me back to a centre position on the adjustment. If you have normal vision then you won't need the extra lens.

If you do need the lens then all CU lenses are double threaded anyway. They make them like that so you can add or subtract lenses and they often come in a set of 4 ..(1,2, 4 and 10) I just bought a "2" on eBay and it has a female thread on one side and a male thread on the other ...all closeup lenses are double threaded I would think??

Disassemble the tube (yes you can put it back the way it was) and put the middle bit to one side and then just put a lick of electrical tape over the new join so you can test it.

I looked on eBay UK and all the CU lenses there are stackable (meaning they have a thread on both sides)
To be honest I have never seen a CU lens with only one thread (like a filter) How would you stack them??

Chris

Excellent, Chris. Thanks for this. I didn't think about the CU lenses being threaded both sides for stacking. I understand.

I am quite old (53) and use 1.25 dioptre spectacles for reading, screen work and some expensive varifocals for camera work.

I'm going to shorten that loupe tomorrow!

Martyn,
53? You young rascal. Chris and I are stone age! Heck my oldest child isn't too far from you (don't tell her though). Lol, we all laugh a bit about our "experience" and like Indiana Jones once said, "it's not the age, it's the miles"!
Glad we've got another one in our "group", it seems to get bigger each day! :-)

Ok Don

So it seems we have a mere slip of a lad trying to claim that he is an "oldie" now ...Come, come Martyn, at 53 you have a lot of catching up to get to Don and myself. I have 14 years on you!

On the more serious side, if your specs are 1.25 dioptre then just get a +2 closeup lens and you are done and dusted.

On my loupe tube I threw caution to the wind and put a thin circle of Araldite quikset expoy on one end of the tube and stuck the top piece on and it was secure hopefully for good. You don't need to use Velcro as suggested in the video at all. Ordinary electrical tape (black) will work just as well and is almost invisible if you want the mod to be temporary. If you don't have a "00" Phillips jeweller's screwdriver then first go out and buy one otherwise you will struggle to get to the screws. With a cheap simple (but correct) screwdriver the whole job will take you a few minutes. Just in case you need to revert to the longer tube remember to use a bit of sticky tape to keep the 4 spare screws you will have left together with the middle tube of the loupe tube. They are quite tiny so best not to lose them!

Chris

Haha. Maybe I just feel older some days. Everybody acts young on here and gives the forum a great feel. I really enjoy swapping messages with you all. I'd like to find more time to chat.

I'm going to order the CU lens and then get to work on the loupe.

Sorry to raise an old thread but I'm short sighted and don't really need glasses for reading - just for distance - I mainly use my EA50 without the Loupe but I'm tempted to shorten in if it means I can get it on my shoulder occasionally (tender age of 53 and get backache after a day holding it - especially with heavy Canon glass). My eyes are fine looking at the LCD screen at a half arm's length but any closer and I'd need my glasses (not really for reading but for more real close up stuff) - these are diopter +2 so is that the cu lens i'd need - something like this?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hoya-52mm-Close-Screw--Filter/dp/B000T948GO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1396177482&sr=8-1&keywords=52mm+close+up+lens+%2B2

Pete

Hi Pete

Yep, just a simple 52mm close up lens they call a +2 which is indeed 2 diopter. I can get away with just the loupe even shortened but my adjustment is at max for that so I just screwed on the closeup lens.

Remember the mod is also reversible as all you are doing is removing the middle piece of tube (if you want to revert then remember to keep the spare screws too!! A bit of insulation tape keeps it together so you don't really need the fancy Velcro pieces !!

With the tube removed you can actually have the shoulder pad correctly seated but if you put back the tube it's too long so the pad tends to perch on the very edge of your shoulder ..not comfortable at all!

Chris

Just done it ahead of this weekend's wedding - very usable now for me :) I never really used it before but now it's shorter I might just - quick to flip up as well so I don't need the camera in my face all the time - before i was on the extent of the diopter for focus but now i'm bang in the middle of the range without having a buy an extra lens - nice!

I just shortened mine tonight! I like it way better, but I will have to get a closeup lens. At 55 years, I have to use reading glasses to see a computer screen, about 2.0 to 2.5. Shortening the loupe just almost made it, but with glasses I can see fine. So I will hunt for a CU lens set.

The balance on my shoulder is much better.

Well done guys ..it makes a HUGE improvement to the camera!! Both mine are shortened and yep, I could get away without the closeup lens BUT my adjustment would be on it's limit ..I just popped in 52mm +2 lenses and the adjustment now goes to halfway... works brilliantly.

How did you guys join the tube back again ??? I went the scary route and coated the edges with quikset epoxy then put a neat strip of black tape around the seam ...it's not going to fall to bits in a hurry but even with no reversing the operation the camera tube would stay like that even when I replace the cameras later next year.

Chris

I just used black electrical tape, but I know in a few months it won't look nice anymore. I thought of making some kind of catch, latch, or screws to hold it together, perhaps with a thin strip of black felt glued on the inside of the tube to block the light. then the hack would be reversible.

If I want to make it permanent, then I guess I would try to find something that works like electrical tape, but permanent, like some kind of epoxy tape.

I just put epoxy on the edges and squished it together ..the tape was simply to hold the tubes together until it set but it wouldn't come off of course! Black plastic tape looks smart and mine is almost invisible and doesn't look at all tatty after a month of hard use. If it gets rough looking then it's easy enough to rip it off (in pieces) and put a new strip on.

Chris

This works so well. Why did Sony make it so long, ugly and hard to use with the shoulder support?

I waited until I needed a couple of other things from Amazon before ordering my close-up lenses (£12 for a pack of four 52mm - +1, +2, +4 and +10) and they arrived today.

Dismantled the loupe assembly in about three minutes. Screwed in the lens and put it back together without the centre section. I was pleased to feel the snug fit of the new joint. Used black tape to hold it together but I know I'll glue it. It looks great and the diopter adjustment is back to the midpoint for my eyes. Perfect.

And now I have three close-up lenses to use on my 52mm filter thread Nikon lenses. I not expecting much in terms of quality but I bet I'll have some fun with them.

Hey Guys,

Post deleted. I was mistaken about something.

Steve

No problem Steve but just for interest after 24 months my tape on my loupe mods is still looking good ..I'm actually surprised it hasn't started peeling away but it looks as good as the day I did the mod ... maybe the quikset epoxy had something to do with it??

Chris